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Mattel Talks Battleground Evil-Lyn: The Inspiration Behind The Design

Posted on Facebook.

He-Fans and She-Ravers,

Ever since we announced the new version of Evil Lyn coming out this fall, their has been a lot of questions over her design and look. To understand this better we went straight to the mouth – the Four Horsemen’s mouth that is. We talked with them and Terry Higuchi from Mattel design to understand the inspiration for this new version of Evil Lyn.

TERRY: Part of the feel and look of the vintage MOTU line has always been the strategic use of shared parts (Stinkor and Mer-Man anyone?). To help capture that feel in MOTUC, we very deliberately use shared parts in MOTUC even when sometimes a new part could be called for. Bow and Optikk are both great example of this. It is part of the look and feel of the brand.

FOUR HORSEMEN: When designing Battleground Evil Lyn, we used a combination of new parts (new head, cape) along with thought-out reuse parts (tunic, Catra hand) to capture the charm and nostalgia that reuse parts evoke uniquely with MOTU. While we are always trying to go the extra mile for fans, sometimes our efforts do not jive with what the fan base is looking for (She-Ra 1.0's mask attachment, Space Explorer Marlena in Green are good examples).

Fans have also asked why the new 2.0 female buck was not used for Evil Lyn. At the time this figure was being sculpted the 2.0 body was not developed yet. We knew that it was coming, but it didn't exist for us to work off of. With this in mind we felt that it would be better to go with this simpler version rather than sink a lot of tooling into a version that didn't have waist articulation, better hip function, etc. If we used up the tooling now, it may have killed the chance to do a version that 100% satisfies all of the fan requests. Now that the 2.0 body has been created and worked into the line, the door is open to do this version in the future.

TERRY: Clearly fans are looking for more new parts on a grey skinned Evil Lyn. We will certainly take this into account when looking at future variants of the evil warrior goddess. There are lots of ways we can update her down the road and just as we did a She-Ra 2.0 and multiple versions of He-Man, Evil Lyn is clearly a popular enough character to warrant multiple versions.While we do not have another version of Evil Lyn on the books anytime in the immediate future, don't count her down for the count. She could very well be back when you least expect it!

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Hope that cleared up some design choices and we can't wait to see what the Horsemen are working on next!

I welcome any figure and though alot feel they want an Evil-lynn even closer to the 200x version, I am satisfied with the one we are getting. It is good they are still envisioning another go at her somewhere down the road.

The comment about not having the 2.0 buck available seems to hint she was intended to be released earlier but pushed back for some reason. So the question is, why did they decide to release her this way so much after Battleground Teela? Had they decided to make Bubble Power She-Ra the quarterly variant instead of BG Evil-Lyn, a better Evil-Lyn could have been released later with the 2.0 buck and a newly tooled dress.

The only reason for this I can think of is money. But what exactly was that money sank on that kept them from changing BG Evil-Lyn?

Battleground Evil Lyn, available November 2011 only on Mattycollector.com (note she will have turning articulated wrist guards, an additional helmet-less head and a second swapable orb piece for her staff that glows in the dark!)

TERRY: Part of the feel and look of the vintage MOTU line has always been the strategic use of shared parts (Stinkor and Mer-Man anyone?). To help capture that feel in MOTUC, we very deliberately use shared parts in MOTUC even when sometimes a new part could be called for. Bow and Optikk are both great example of this. It is part of the look and feel of the brand.

I don't like this explanation for this character. Especially if we specifically wanted 200X Lyn because she WASN'T wearing the Teela leotard. This is like giving Catra or Adora the Teela leotard.

"Fans have also asked why the new 2.0 female buck was not used for Evil Lyn. At the time this figure was being sculpted the 2.0 body was not developed yet. We knew that it was coming, but it didn't exist for us to work off of. With this in mind we felt that it would be better to go with this simpler version rather than sink a lot of tooling into a version that didn't have waist articulation, better hip function, etc. If we used up the tooling now, it may have killed the chance to do a version that 100% satisfies all of the fan requests. Now that the 2.0 body has been created and worked into the line, the door is open to do this version in the future."

...why did they bother doing a Battleground Evil-Lyn at all at that particular point in time with such limitations, instead of just waiting another year or so, and giving us the ultimate BG Evil-Lyn done right the first time out? I mean, surely a variant like Dragon Blaster Skeletor could have been done in BG Evil-Lyn's place... but... whatev. They're going to do a third version of her and we're all going to buy it anyways... so...

TBH I totally "got" what Mattel were intending with this version when I first saw her unveiled - I've been proved right - it was to evoke the re-use of the vintage line - and I'm totally kewl with that.

I actually think this Evil-Lyn looks stunning in this purple/pink decco and outfit. I cannot wait to add her to my collection.

BTW - I'm sure 200X Evil-Lyn will be well worth the wait - since she will have a waist twist and additional tooling.

I think the figure looks PHENOMENAL. My only gripe is that it looks like we won't get the option of displaying her crystal as a wand instead of a staff. Overall though, I'm very pleased with the figure.

Yeah, why bother doing a crappy version now, rather than making BPSR the variant?

Originally Posted by Thrawn29

And what in the name of heaven is a "Grey skinned Evil Lyn"? I can only hope he is referring to the Caucasian/white non-Simpson Evil Lyn. Grey skinned? What?

MYP-Lyn is, indeed, grey-skinned. And Filmation-Lyn is Asian (although there were some colouring errors of her as caucasian here & there, including in the scene where she takes off her helmet.) No version of her is actually causcasian/white.

She looks stunning, so yes, she is wearing the same leotard but hell, it´s such a cool leotard, i don´t mind seeing it repainted, the colors are great the cape is cool the hand is fun and the helmetless head looked great on the SDCC pictures.

I think I have to agree - perfect mix of old and new - she looks frighteningly Evil

Originally Posted by Mr_Yuck

I think the figure looks PHENOMENAL. My only gripe is that it looks like we won't get the option of displaying her crystal as a wand instead of a staff. Overall though, I'm very pleased with the figure.

Originally Posted by SCB

Even with shared parts, she looks great in that pic.

Glad I am not the only one that LOVES this figure, yes it would be cool to have a new tunic, but when I look at that figure, I just think wow what a paint job and the helmet-less head is amazing.

They went ahead with her because they know they can make and sell another version later.

This figure is almost pure profit for them. Her cape is likely tooled primarily for someone else (Shokoti? The Enchantress? Illumina? Who knows?), and the only new part other than that is the helmet-less head.

I love her.

She looks awesome.

We will get the other one. Don't worry.

And I think they added BP She-Ra as an extra because they know she will sell in multiples. That will just boost their fourth quarter sales for this line.

MYP-Lyn is, indeed, grey-skinned. And Filmation-Lyn is Asian.No version of her is actually causcasian/white.

After seeing this repaint, when they say grey skinned Evil Lyn, I imagine the next Evil Lyn variant (if it ever materializes) to have grey skin like Hordak. It worries me when they say that after we got nothing more than repaint after nearly two years of fan requests.